January 2007

These questions were waiting for me in my inbox this morning - sitting calmly, waiting to pounce on me and make me feel a fool on a Monday morning.  Suffice to say I didn’t get them all right!  

Instead of posting the answers below, I’m going to give you the day to think about them and post the answers tonight.  Thinking’s good, right? Okay…usually……

      1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants 
       Know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

      2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?

      3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several
      Growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are
      The only two perennial vegetables?

      4. Name the only sport in which the ball is always in possession of the team
      On defense, and the offensive team can score without touching the ball?

      5. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

      6. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside
      The bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn’t
      Been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?

      7. Only three words in Standard English begin with the letters “dw” and they
      Are all common words. Name two of them. (Four words counting a slang word.)

      8. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least
      Half of them?

      9. Where are the lakes that are referred to in the Los Angeles Lakers?

      10. There are 7 ways a baseball player can legally reach first base without
      Getting a hit. Taking a base on balls (a walk) is one way. Name the other 6.

      11. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned,
      Processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

      12. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the
      Letter “s.”

The uncle who e-mailed this out said that it’s been sent to lots of teachers, and that no one has gotten them all right. 

Good luck…have fun…and if you get them all right, don’t tell me!

———————————————-

ANSWERS:

      1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know
      The score or the leader until the contest ends . . Boxing

      2. The North American landmark constantly moving backward . . Niagara
      Falls (The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of
      The millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.)

      3. The only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several
      Growing seasons. . Asparagus and rhubarb.

      4. The only sport in which the ball is always in possession of the team on
defense, and the offensive team can score without touching the ball…
      Baseball.

      5. The fruit with its seeds on the outside . Strawberry.

      6. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle? It grew inside the bottle.
      The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in
      Place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season.
When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.

      7. Three English words beginning with dw . . . Dwarf, dwell, dwindle and dweeb
(inept person)

      8. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar. . Period, comma, colon,
      semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point,
quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.

      9. The original lakes referred to in Lakers . . . In Minnesota. The team was
originally known as the Minneapolis Lakers, and kept the name when they moved
west.

      10. The seven ways a baseball player can legally reach first base without
getting hit taking a base on balls (a walk), batter hit by a pitch, passed
ball, catcher interference, catcher drops third strike, fielder’s
      Choice, and being designated as a pinch-runner.

      11. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked,
or in any other form but fresh . . . Lettuce.

      12. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with “s”…Shoes,
      Socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes stockings,
      Stilts.

“Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out.” - Michael Burke

I know a girl who recently experienced the end of a rocky relationship.   She knew that something wasn’t quite right for a long time. Something just felt wrong. 

She didn’t fully believe anything he said, even though she couldn’t put her finger on it.  She hadn’t caught him red-handed at anything, yet something always felt off.  This uneasy feeling was responsible for a lot of fights - fights in which she came off looking like the one in the wrong.  Like she wasn’t trusting enough, like she was an overreacting, suspicous, jealous female.  It always ended with him laughing at her “lack of trust,” but she just couldn’t silence her inner voice.

Fortunately, before the relationship went any further down the road, he was caught. as her inner voice stood by, pointing her finger screaming, “See?!?!”

It served as a great lesson, one in which she’ll never forget:  If something doesn’t seem right, it usually isn’t. 

It also illustrated another truth.  A friend of hers is the one who blew the lid off of the dog’s house.  Other friends, and acquaintances, knew but said nothing.  Cowards.  The person who spoke up, no doubt, had to weigh out the pros and cons and probably got zero satisfaction out of having to be the one to bring it out into the open.  In the end, though, he did what had to be done and showed that at least one man in the story had character.

Thankfully, for the young lady, there are brighter and better days (and boys) ahead.

Please don’t tell me that me and my fingernails are the last 11 to know that something like this existed.  They’re the CD/DVD Openers from The Paragon.

Someone in our family is buying a cd and/or dvd every day of the week. The only down side is opening the darned things - especially dvds.  Honestly, could they make them any tougher to get into?  Just yesterday I chipped some great nail polish (that’d I’d OF COURSE just put on that morning) while trying to get into Memoirs of a Geisha. I kept thinking, “There’s got to be a better technique for packaging these things.” 

I guess someone’s gone and spoiled the inventor’s sadistic fun.  The Paragon has this CD/DVD Opener.  From the website: A retractable cutting device zips around your CD or DVD case to slice through the wrapping and tape. Set of one CD opener on a keyring and one DVD opener.

My nails say Thank You.  Times 10.

BTW, if you haven’t seen Memoirs of a Geisha - you really should.  It was gorgeous in the theaters and just as gorgeous in your living room.  Gong Li?  I’m girl crushin’.

I’m a classic case of a people person.  I generally love all people, BUT there are some that I’m more drawn to than others.  My all-time favorite authors (Dean Koontz, Mark Twain, Mitch Albom, Maya Angelou, Agatha Christie), my all-time favorite athletes (Allen Iverson, John Daly, Tony Stewart, Muhammad Ali, Charles Barkley, Flo Jo, Mark McGwire) my all-time favorite actors (Keira Knightley, Johnny Depp, Eddie Murphy, Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington, Julia Roberts, Robin Williams, Winona Ryder, George Clooney) - most of them are a few steps to the right or the left of the beaten track.  Who am I kidding, my athletes aren’t even aware there is a track.  Flo Jo may have ran on a track, but make no mistake about it - she was the star, not it.

This is the personality I’m drawn to. The colorful, vibrant, controversial-if-need-be, living out loud, and often in your face type of person.  The kind you’d never have to feel for a pulse, because you can hear and see it beating from a mile away!  You won’t, for crying out loud, agree with everything they say or do.  Sometimes they’ll leave you shaking your head, other times they’ll leave you scratching your head.  But they always find a way to get inside your head. 

Muhammad Ali fits this bill beautifully.  Have you ever stopped to think about the stands this man took and the time in which he took them?  Brass, baby, pure brass.

Today is Mr. Ali’s  65th birthday and I thought the perfect way to honor him would be to showcase some of his most amazing quotes.  He was a force in the ring, to be sure - but he’s an even bigger force out of the ring.  Below are some of my favorite quotes from the pride of Louisville, Kentucky (and all of America, for that matter):  Mr. Muhammad Ali:

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.

Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.

Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wild Life.

Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.I know I got it made while the masses of black people are catchin’ hell, but as long as they ain’t free, I ain’t free.

I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want.

I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.

I’ll beat him so bad he’ll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.

I’m not the greatest; I’m the double greatest. Not only do I knock ‘em out, I pick the round.

I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.

If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.

It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.

It’s hard to be humble, when you’re as great as I am.If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologize. It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.

It’s not bragging if you can back it up.

It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.

My way of joking is to tell the truth. That’s the funniest joke in the world.

Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.

Superman don’t need no seat belt.

Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.

The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.

There are no pleasures in a fight but some of my fights have been a pleasure to win.

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ”Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

Happy birthday to The Louisville lip!

I actually hesitated for a few minutes before going through with this post. I’ll tell you why in a minute.

The American Cancer Society has released data showing that, for the second year in a row, cancer deaths are declining.  An AP article summed it up with these encouraging words, “Cancer deaths in the United States have dropped for a second straight year, confirming that a corner has been turned in the war on cancer.”

So why hesitate to post about such great news? 

I guess I don’t want people to let their guard down or “let up.”  Have you ever exercised, cut calories, and lost a significant amount of weight - only to chant, “No more salads, no more teas…. only place I’m running is to Mickey D’s.”

Been there.  Un-Done that.

People have a tendency to get comfortable in success.  College athletic programs do it, politicians do it, performers do it, you do it, I do it.  It’s like we figure that we’ve won this particular battle, so we leave this battle field and go on to the next one.  Result?  We’re usually ambushed, blindsided, and back where we were.

I don’t know why, but it seems to be human nature.  Anyway, it’s why I was hesitant to post any of this.  The numbers are down because:

1. Earlier screenings
2. Decline in smoking
3. Better care

However, if people stop funding research, stop giving up smoking, and stop going for early screenings - the numbers will creep back up.  That’s why, sometimes when I read stories like this article I think, “No! Don’t tell people we’re winning - they’ll play harder if they think we’re behind.”  Sports teams certainly do!  If it’s a blow out, they generally get sloppy with the ball and lose their focus.

But we’re not going to let that happen, are we?!  We’ll look at this as encouragement and keep on keeping on.  The people who’s lives depend on this keeping on philosophy - the men, women, boys, and girls who live with cancer under the same roof are the reasons I went ahead with this post and the reason that, in the end, I hope to see more articles written about the decline.

It all comes down to one word:  Hope.  People who had forgotten what hope even looked like can return to a first name basis with it.  It doesn’t mean that cancer isn’t still a very, very, very formidable enemy.  It is.  We’re just learning how to fight it on its own terms. 

If we keep up the fight, one day it’ll be fighting us on our terms.

Click HERE to read the AP article in it’s entirety.

“Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

I’m sure I’ve told you before that Martin Luther King, Jr is one of my all-time heroes.  He was, without doubt, one of the most powerful human forces our world has ever seen.  Yet, at the same time, there was a gentleness about him that suggested he would be one of the rare people who’d allow a fly to live rather than swat it. 

His desire was a simple enough desire.  He wanted everyone to get along and live together peacefully. He wanted people to be judged on their character, not their race. He didn’t want to beat anyone down, shame anyone or punish them.  He devoted his life to raising people up, honoring them and rewarding them with lives infinitely more fulfilling.

The fact that he witnessed the vilest of hate yet didn’t allow it to rub off on his own hands tells us a great deal about the nature of this man.  

Hatred destroys and disfigures.  It becomes so completely powerful that it consumes its owner.  If you’ve ever seen unreasonable hatred in action before, you know just how ugly it is. 

It’s like a plaid jacket from the 70s  -  It doesn’t look good on anyone.

I was putting together a blog post earlier for another blog (Out of Bounds).  The post was about reducing stress and included some AMAZING tips from The American Lung Association - 52 to be exact.  I’ll put the link at the bottom of this post, so you can check them out - they’re really excellent.

Anyway, one of the 52 was “Get up 15 minutes earlier.”  Losing just 15 minutes of sleep isn’t going to do any of us any harm, but it kind of made me wonder about something else. 

Just about every self help book, handout, and article urges us to Get up earlier…Get a jump on the day…Set your alarm clock for an hour earlier than normal, etc.  The problem, I’m afraid, is that none of us are going to bed any earlier.  Basically, we’re robbing ourselves of as much as 7 hours a sleep each week (which adds up to a whole night of sleep for most people!)

Experts say that a lack of sleep leads to:

• Moodiness
• Lack of concentration
• Memory loss
• Weight gain
• Diminished mental capacity

I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to have my mental capacity messed with. It’s like being broken down on the side of the road in Arizona on a blistering July afternoon with just one bottle of water. It might not be much, but if it’s all you’ve got - it’s everything!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally in favor of getting up early.  My coffee cup and I love mornings - it’s an amazing time of the day, ripe with promise and full of hope and potential.  The smells coming from the kitchen, alone, make it a beautiful time.  Coffee, cinnamon rolls, waffles, oatmeal, biscuits and jelly, more coffee….

But, we have to be on the alert for sleep-deprivation problems…little hints that our body craves more sleep.  Read over the list above again.  If you stop at any of the five and think, “Hmmmm..” and you’ve been doing the whole Early to rise makes you healthy, wealthy, and wise thing, you might want to consider turning in a little earlier in the evening.  After all, what’s the use of being healthy, wealthy, and wise if you’re also forgetful, distracted, edgy, scatterbrained, moody, simple-minded, and grouchy?

As promised, here’s the link to the 52 Stress Reducers.

Joi

“I was ahead in the slalom.  But in the second run, everyone fell on a dangerous spot.  I was beaten by a woman who got up faster than I did.  I learned that people fall down, winners get up, and gold medal winners just get up faster.”  ~Bonnie St. John

My Chai Tea introduced me to a fascinating woman last night.  I was into what was probably my third drink when I read the “The Way I See It” on the back of the Starbuck’s cup.  I always read them, but when varies with my enthusiasm for the drink.  If it’s my second trip in one day, I read it before drink number 1 - if I’ve missed a day, I get to it around drink number 2 or 3.  If I’ve missed a week (hey, it happened once when I had the flu), I meet the speaker as the cup’s meeting the trash can.

The beautiful individual sharing their thoughts with me last night was Bonnie St. John, the second-fastest amputee skier in the world in 1984, and the first black Olympic ski medalist.  She’s also earned the prestigious title of Rhodes Scholar, as well as a position in the White House during the Clinton administration.  She has worked on Wall Street, in Europe and Asia, and was an award-winning sales representative for IBM. She’s now an author and motivational speaker - sometimes in person, sometimes on the back of Chai tea.  Oh, yeah, she also has degrees from both Harvard and Oxford…..and was named one of NBC Nightly News “five most inspiring women in America.”

I’m certain she has other accomplishments, and I know more will come - but you get the idea.  The lady has more than just a smile that could stop traffic, she has a red cape somewhere in her closet.

I absolutley love her quote. Life has a lot of uncertainties, but there’s one thing you can count on - there will be falls, and no shortage of them.  You’ll find yourself literally face down on the bed, couch, or floor - not wanting to get up ever again.  Not wanting to face the day, the future, or any part of either - simply because the pain’s more than you can bear.  You just want to lay there in a pitiful heap and will everything else to go away. 

It’s then that you have to pull yourself up by the back of your top - sometimes kicking and spitting and sometimes booing and hooing. 

Well, it’s that or either stay down.

As Superwoman says, winners get up….champions get up faster.

Joi

For a beautiful tribute that Bonnie wrote the day after she lost her mom, click HERE.  Her words about courage are words the whole world should read.  More than once.

• Have you ever read a passage in a book that was so perfectly written you had to go back and read it again.  Maybe you were so smitten by the way the words danced with one another that you wrote the passage down.  Being a fan of Dean Koontz, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Nicholas Sparks, Dale Carnegie, and Mitch Albom, I do a great deal of the read, re-read, and write it down routine.
• Have you ever had a disagreement with someone and come away hurt because of something in particular they said?  You’ve moved past the actual cause of the confrontation - and even admit that it was trivial - but this one little thing that flew out of their mouth has lodged in your heart and….well, it hurts.
• Have you ever been on the other side - where the words flew out of your own mouth and you’d have given anything in the world to take them back?
• Have you ever read an ad or seen a commercial and wanted what they were pitching.  This one owns me in the worst way!  I have never played poker in my life, but I was reading a review my husband had written on Hightide-Web’s Review Blog for Poker tables and other Poker necessities.  By the time I finished reading it, I wanted to build a room onto the house just for poker.  A game I’ve never played. Sure, I’m an easy sell, but it’s usually for things I can use!

Words have always been fascinating to me.  Their power to move us, conform us, and ultimately change us…or at least our way of thinking….leaves me in awe.  We spend so much time being careful with our driving (well some of you do), with handling knives, with hot water, with germs, etc.  Yet one of the most powerful things in the world….our words…we seldom even think twice about.

Sometimes, with all the acronyms bouncing around today, and all the butchering done to the spoken word - I worry about the future of words.  If our country ever gets to the point where people can’t communicate effectively with one another, we’re screwed. Royally.  Just something to think about and to pass on to the LOL generation.

My aunt sent me a great e-mail recently about this very thing, the power of words.  Naturally, it was right up my mental alley - and I thought there might be similar mental alleys out there. (God bless your heart is all I can say.)

One day, there was a blind man sitting on the steps of a building
with a hat by his feet and a sign that read:

“I am blind, please help.”

A creative publicist was walking by and stopped to observe.
He saw that the blind man had only a few coins in his hat.
He dropped in more coins and, without asking for permission,
took the sign and rewrote it.

He returned the sign to the blind man and left.
That afternoon the publicist returned to the blind man and noticed
that his hat was full of bills and coins.

The blind man recognized his footsteps and asked
if it was he who had rewritten his sign
and wanted to know what he had written on it.

The publicist responded: “Nothing that was not true. I just wrote the
message a little differently.” He smiled and went on his way.

The new sign read: “Today is Spring and I cannot see it.”

Learning what to say changes everything.

Have a great weekend!

Joi

“I’m not smart. I try to observe. Millions saw the apple fall but Newton was the one who asked why.” ~ Bernard Mannes Baruch